Louise

by Oliver, Marina

  And it would be worth it, he thought, if it rid him of Cedric's constant demands.

  *

  Chapter 17

  Louise had been planning to go to Devon with Isobel to pack their personal belongings and decide what they wished to take to their new homes. Rushton Manor was to be sold. She and Rupert did not need another house in Devon, and Isobel said she did not want reminders of her former life there. These plans had to be changed when Emily announced she had hired a large house in Paris, near the Bois de Boulogne, and all her friends were being invited to visit her there. Louise, she said, must be there to help her entertain.

  'I was fortunate,' she told Louise. 'Many people went there in April, but the family who rented this house came home early.'

  'And many more have followed the Duke, now he is Ambassador to France,' Sir Martin said. 'For me, I mean to indulge in the food and wine. There is no one better than the French chef, and no wine better than that produced in France.'

  Emily, Sir Martin and Louise went there first, soon joined by Isobel, Sir Arthur and his children.

  'Think of all the pictures and sculptures Napoleon stole from other countries,' Sir Arthur said. 'This may be the best opportunity to see them, for they might be sent back, and that would mean the collection would be split up go to every country in Europe.'

  Louise, too, was hoping to look at the pictures. She was well aware of the amateur nature of her own paintings, and hoped to learn from looking at these many masterpieces.

  Then Amelia and David arrived.

  'I am not giving up this first chance to see Paris,' Amelia declared. 'We will go back in December for Louise's wedding and Christmas. That is plenty of time before the baby is due.'

  Louise was delighted with Paris. She was missing Rupert, but the magnificent buildings, the large mansions, and the open spaces of the Bois enchanted her. She could drive and ride there, which she did almost every day. There were also the fashions, and every hostess vied to give the best parties. Every evening, it seemed, they had half a dozen invitations to balls and soirees, or tickets for the theatre or opera. And at all these events rumour was rife about the Duke and his attentions to various ladies. The royals and those who had fled from the revolutionaries returned. Wellington's shy Duchess came to join him.

  'She did not wish to leave England and her children,' Emily said. 'It must be painful for her to see him paying such attention to other women, when he effectively ignores her. But he always was a ladies' man.'

  Louise was riding in the Bois one morning with Isabel, talking about the plans Emily had for the wedding.

  'She is doing too much,' Louise said. 'I don't want the largest wedding of the year! Now Rupert is leaving the army I just want to marry him. I'm not being unfaithful to Richard, am I, when I love another man?'

  'Of course not, my dear. No more than I am unfaithful to his father by marrying Arthur. They would both have wanted us to be happy. But permit your mother to make what arrangements she wishes. You are her only child.'

  Louise nodded and they turned for home. In the courtyard before the house was a large travelling carriage, and the servants were carrying in various trunks and valises.

  'I didn't think anyone was expected today,' Louise said. 'I had better go in and help Emily. I hope she is there. She was talking about a visit to a new modiste she'd been told was excellent for pelisses and cloaks, and the weather will soon get colder.'

  'I'll take both horses round to the stables.'

  Louise dismounted and gave her reins to the groom who always accompanied them on their rides. She went into the house to find a growing pile of baggage in the hallway.

  'I'm sorry, milady,' the major-domo said. 'The gentleman was not expected, and we have no instructions where he is to sleep.'

  'Gentleman?' Louise asked, and her heart began to beat erratically. Was it Rupert? She doubted he would travel in such a manner, with so much luggage. 'Where is he?'

  'In the salon, Madame.'

  Louise went there, opened the door, and stepped inside. She saw a pair of hessians stretched out from a large chair, but the owner was hidden. Quietly she walked forward, and the occupant of the chair looked up at her and grinned.

  'You didn't expect to see me in Paris, did you, girl?'

  Louise sighed. 'No, Grandfather, I did not!'

  *

  Rupert fretted. The official Congress had opened on time on October the first. During September the allies had held talks, and these went on during the first week. What also went on were balls and parades, dinners, concerts, a shooting party lasting two days, and receptions. Then on the eighth a recess until the beginning of November was agreed. Rupert hoped he might be able to have leave for a few days, and go to Paris where Louise now was, but Lord Castlereagh needed him. The estimate of four to six weeks would never be achieved.

  During the recess the settlement of the German question was being discussed amongst the German powers. Then the Tsar and Metternich almost came to blows and the Congress was in danger of collapsing. This was averted and new discussions began. Russia again was causing dissent, and the Tsar and Metternich again began to quarrel.

  'I am receiving no support from London,' Lord Castlereagh complained to Rupert. 'They do not understand all the problems and the different personalities involved. Prussia wants Saxony and the Tsar wants to control all of Poland. We could soon be at war again.'

  'Perhaps France can help,' Rupert suggested.

  Britain, Austria and France joined forces to oppose Russia and Prussia, and the Tsar had to be satisfied with acquiring the Duchy of Warsaw. Poland was once more being partitioned. By January the threat of war was over, but in London Parliament was complaining, and Lord Castlereagh was recalled to explain and defend his policies. The Duke of Wellington was sent to Vienna in his place, arriving at the start of February. Rupert began to despair. There would never be a satisfactory conclusion, and the Congress could go on for months. His wedding had been delayed, yet again. Louise was still in Paris, but Amelia had gone back to England to await the birth of her child.

  March began with the news that Napoleon had escaped from Elba and landed in the south of France. Was it to be war all over again?

  *

  'He won't gain support from the French. They've had enough of war, of losing so many of their young men to that monster's ambition,' Emily said.

  'They also resent having been defeated,' Sir Martin said. 'We should all go home.'

  'I don't wish to go,' Emily said. 'It seems cowardly. Surely no one will support him after all the misery he has brought them?'

  Isobel and the children were leaving the following day, travelling with another family, after news came that Napoleon had reached as far as Lyons. Sir Arthur decided to remain for the time being.

  'If there is fighting, my skills may be needed.'

  'I'm staying here, even if that coward is planning to leave,' Joseph said. 'Most of the Royal family have fled already, and I hear he, Louis, is planning to go to Brussels.'

  As Napoleon, with soldiers flocking to him despite the incredulity of the English, approached Paris, even Joseph began to look anxious. He had known Paris in his youth, he said, and had come to see how it had been changed by the revolution and the Empire. He hadn't had nearly enough time to explore all his old haunts, or find out whether any of his old companions were still alive.

  'We'll come back, when he is defeated,' Sir Martin said.

  'I'll be too old,' Joseph said, and began complaining about his gout, which had not troubled him one whit while he drank copiously of French wine and dined lavishly on French food.

  Finally even Emily admitted she did not wish to be in Paris when Napoleon, as seemed likely, entered the city with all his new troops. The people, it was clear, were ready to welcome him.

  'We'll go to Brussels,' they agreed.

  Louise recognised the danger of staying in Paris, but wanted to remain as near to Rupert as she could. If she returned to England she would be too far
away. They went to Brussels the day before Louis left Paris, and on the day after that Napoleon entered Paris in triumph, a week before Easter. Wellington, they heard, had left Vienna after the allies had outlawed Napoleon and renewed their treaty against him. At the beginning of April he entered Brussels.

  Emily had been fortunate to find a house close to the Grand Place. It was much smaller than the one in Paris, but she laughed and said she did not expect to be entertaining so many visitors.

  'I acquired this house because the people who had rented it have gone back to England. It's big enough for us and Louise, Arthur and Joseph. The Duke is gathering an army, and he will stop Napoleon.'

  'If he does not, if the French cross the border, we go home,' Sir Martin said, and Emily happily agreed. She was confident that would not happen.

  Then Rupert arrived, with all the news of the Congress.

  'Little sensible was achieved,' he reported as they sat at dinner. 'Now it's all to do again, and some of our best, most experienced troops are on their way to America or already there. The other allies are trying to surround France, but the Duke thinks he will aim first for the north. And King William here in the Netherlands, and Slender Billy, are incompetent. They cannot get the border fortresses garrisoned.'

  He remained close to the Duke, and reported the frustrations when he was able to come to see Louise.

  'Many of his most experienced officers are elsewhere, or dead. The Government at home are sending him men he does not know. And they are not sending the troops and equipment he asks for. Nor does he have the intelligence he had in Spain, for the wretched Government at home, who don't know what they are doing, will not permit him to send patrols into French territory because, they claim, we are not at war. The Prussians are annoyed because they did not know of the alliance against them in January. Apart from Blücher, that is, who is an experienced soldier.'

  'Will he win if – or when – it comes to fighting?' Louise asked.

  'God willing. But Napoleon and Wellington have never faced each other in battle. It would be foolish to predict a result, though if Wellington can perform miracles, he will.'

  'And you will have to help him,' Louise said softly, taking a deep breath. 'You may not have a commission now, but you are a soldier, and experienced. Just the sort of help he needs.'

  Rupert looked unhappily at her. 'I promised to leave the army.'

  'And I have been selfish asking it of you. Rupert, if you wish, and if it can be arranged, I will marry you as soon as possible. Before you have to go into battle.'

  *

  Chapter 18

  Brussels was seething with excitement. There was about it an air of desperation, opinion veering between anticipation of success against Napoleon's new army, and fears of having to flee to safety should the French conquer. Many people had left, going either to England, or part of the way to Ghent or Antwerp, from where they could move to England swiftly if necessary.

  The social life continued. Louise wondered how people could ride and drive in the parks or the country round about, visiting the troops, attending reviews, even playing cricket, as well as holding parties, balls and receptions, attending the theatre, and generally behaving as though life were normal, and they were not facing the likelihood of war on their doorstep.

  'It's their way of dismissing the possible horrors from their minds,' Emily said. 'If they are busy they don't have to think.'

  'Wellington will stop him,' Joseph said.

  Her grandfather had met two of his cronies from the days when he, a wealthy youth in his twenties, had lived for a time in Paris.

  'They wanted me to do the grand tour, to get me out of the way,' he told Louise, chuckling, 'but I didn't want to move from Paris. It had all I wanted, good company, complaisant women – er, yes – well, good food the like of which I never saw in Yorkshire.'

  'Can you find that here today?' Louise asked, smiling. Since arriving in Paris he had never mentioned his gout, and he seemed twenty years younger than when she had last seen him in Bath.

  He glared at her. 'You're a married woman,' he said, 'not a simpering miss.'

  And soon would be again, Louise thought. She pushed from her mind all thoughts of what might happen once Napoleon crossed the border and the army had to engage with his troops. She had promised to marry Rupert, and this time he would be nearby, not hundreds of miles away as Richard had been. Any news would reach her swiftly. Perhaps that would lessen the anxiety of waiting, though it would be just as deep.

  Not all the visitors were devoting themselves to enjoyment. Sir Arthur and others were making what preparations they could to treat and care for the inevitable wounded.

  'We need bandages, blankets and places where we can take the wounded. The hospitals will be quite unable to cope. Big rooms, ballrooms and the like. We won't be able to find enough beds, but we can have sacking stuffed with straw to provide pallets. That will be better than the floor. And soup. We need people to be prepared with vegetables and meat to make gallons of it when it's needed.'

  Louise and Emily did what they could, mainly by asking their friends and acquaintances to offer to help when it became necessary. Sir Martin helped to round up straw and sacking for the pallets. Joseph maintained it was unnecessary.

  'Boney will turn and flee back to Paris when he sees Wellington,' he declared to anyone who would listen.

  One day Sir Arthur, Louise, Sir Martin and Emily drove out along the Nivelles Road to look at the country near the French border, where it was most likely the battle would take place. They halted at the start of a tree-lined avenue which led towards a farm that a man carrying logs told them was called Hougoumont. It was owned, he said with a sniff, by an Austrian nobleman who only visited occasionally. It was just possible to see the gables of the chateau above the surrounding trees. Sir Martin said it was too dangerous to go any closer towards the border in case Napoleon had sent scouting parties across. They looked at the rolling countryside, the occasional patch of woodland, and tried to imagine two huge armies opposing each other across the waving corn which was six feet high.

  'It looks so peaceful, with the crops growing, and the farms working as normal,' Louise said. 'From what Rupert has told me, there will be thousands of soldiers involved. They'll spread all over these fields. I cannot imagine it.'

  'We've none of us been close to a possible battlefield before,' Sir Arthur said. 'I've seen a few of the old battlefields in England, but I'm sure there were never as many men involved as there will be here. Come, it's time to go back and try to forget this. It's your wedding day soon, Louise. Let us rather think of that.'

  *

  Rupert managed to find time to visit Louise almost every day. Sir Arthur had found an Anglican clergyman to conduct the marriage ceremony, and ten days after she had agreed to marry him he and Louise stood before him and made their vows. Rupert once more wore his army uniform, while Louise had on the blue ball gown she had worn just once at Whites' ball. She could not help thinking of her first marriage, in London, at St George's, where it had seemed that the whole of Society had been present. Today there were just her family and a few friends, with some of Rupert's fellow officers who could be spared from duty. The Duke, who was himself seen everywhere, at balls, the theatre, and riding in the parks, as though he were not engaged in the most decisive preparations for battle of his entire career, had promised to look in afterwards at the small reception Emily had organised.

  Lady Barlow lamented the haste which made it impossible to do more, but promised a lavish reception the moment the French were defeated, either in Brussels or London.

  'Or preferably both!' she said. 'I am not seeing my daughter married without some celebration now,' she said, and while Louise deterred her from hiring a large hall, she was unable to prevent Emily filling the drawing room of her small house with friends. There were no bridesmaids, only Emily as matron of honour. It must be rare, she said, for a mother to be her daughter's wedding attendant.

  Joseph Hoyla
nd gave his granddaughter away. He had given her, the previous day, a fine rope of Indian pearls which had belonged to his wife.

  'I didn't give them to you when you married Richard,' he said. 'I was saving them for when your first child was born. But that was not to be. Maybe this time you'll give me a great-grandchild.'

  Louise blinked back tears. It had been a great sorrow that she had not had Richard's child. If Rupert died in the coming battle she might never have one of his, either.

  'I'll hope so,' she managed, and kissed him, something she rarely did.

  He looked as though he was about to weep too, but he patted her on the shoulder and told her she was a good lass.

  Sir Arthur supported his cousin, saying how sorry Isobel would be to have missed the wedding. 'When it's all over, though, you must come and stay with us.'

  They promised, refusing to think of the possibility that Rupert might be killed. If she believed he would be safe, Louise decided, he would be.

  The ceremony was brief, and afterwards they celebrated at Lady Barlow's house. The Duke kept his promise and came to kiss the bride, though he stayed only long enough to drink a toast to them. Then Emily ushered the guests away, and ordered Rupert to carry his bride over the threshold of the main bedroom, for tomorrow he was needed back at the allied headquarters.

  Laughing, Rupert obeyed her, to find the large four-poster bed strewn with rose petals.

  'Thank goodness they have stopped the old ceremony of all the guests coming to see the happy pair safely bedded,' Rupert said, and shuddered. 'Now, my love, I have you to myself at last.'

  *

  He pulled her to him, cradling her head against his shoulder. Louise sighed with pleasure. How often had she dreamed of this moment, and never believed it could happen. Rupert bent his head and she was lost as he kissed her. She swayed, And with a smothered laugh he picked her up and carried her to the big bed. With infinite patience he removed her gown, then her chemise and stockings, carefully rolling them up as he drew them down her legs. Louise shivered. She had never imagined such a simple act could feel so erotic.